Politics

Updated: Snyder and Schauer Go At It, But No TKO

October 12, 2014, 8:30 PM by  Allan Lengel

Gov. Rick Snyder and Democratic opponent Mark Schauer sparred Sunday night  in a spirited debate at a town hall meeting at Wayne State University, addressing issues of taxes, roads, education, prisons and  emergency managers.

No one scored a TKO, and no one made any major gaffes. But both candidates managed to score points and take some shots at one another. It was billed as a town hall meeting, but it was clearly a debate.

Perhaps the only area that Snyder appeared to totally wimp out on was the issue of same-sex marriage. He said he would respect the decisions of the courts. When pressed about his personal view on it, again he reiterated that he would defer to the courts.

Schauer shot back that he was against any form of discrimination and said the governor had opposed issues favoring same-sex couples.

In the end, no candidate clearly won. Those undecided voters leaning toward Schauer or Snyder may have been persuaded enough by Sunday night's performance to vote for those candidates.  Schauer attacked Snyder for snubbing the poor and middle class and seniors. Snyder tried to hammer home that he was helping all the citizens of the state.

Schauer wore a tie. Snyder did not, opting to look more casual, and perhaps more like the common man despite attacks by the Dems, who insist he favors the rich.

Schauer and Snyder went at it about cutting education. Schauer insisted Snyder has made big cuts. Snyder insisted he's added money. In the end, it was still unclear what the real story was.

To its credit, the Detroit Free Press reporters John Wisely, Brent Snavely and Matt Helms did a fact checking of the debate, which is helpful considering it was difficult to ascertain the truth.

Here's one of the issues the paper addressed:

Claim: "It is true that Rick (Snyder) cut a billion from public schools," Mark Schauer.

Rebuttal: Did you cut $1 billion from schools? "Of course not," Gov. Rick Snyder.

Free Press analysis: State funding for K-12 schools has increased by $723 million under Snyder, from $10.7 billion in fiscal year 2011 — the last budget of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm — to $11.4 billion in fiscal year 2014.

Despite that, most school districts have less money for the classroom today than when Granholm left office because federal stimulus funds dried up, the state's per-pupil foundation grant has been cut, enrollment has dropped for many districts, and the $505 million extra that the state has pumped into school districts to help them pay their retirement costs still fell short of the spiraling retirement bills the districts had to pay.

Snyder shot back at Schauer who accused the governor of giving a fat state contract to his cousin.

"He brought up my cousin and the furniture contract. So I'd like to straighten that out," Snyder said. "Let's get the facts straight on that one. That contract, my cousin is a distributor and I think it's somewhat disgusting that he's impinging on a good person's name. The contracts with Haworth, my cousin is the distributor. That contract has been out... for 20-plus years, a couple decades. The last time it was renewed and went through the whole process of being re-evaluated and re-signed, it was before I became governor. It has nothing to do with me becoming governor. So this is a professional politician again making up stuff."

 

From earlier today: 

The governor's race in Michigan could still go either way, which makes tonight's debate, or town hall meeting as it's being billed, all the more important.

The one-time debate in the campaign between Gov. Rick Snyder and Mark Schauer takes places at 6 p.m. at Schaver Music Recital Hall at lWayne State University. It will be broadcast on TV locally on WDIV and around the state.

Nolan Finley of the Detroit News writes:

Although the governor stretched out to an 8-point lead in last week's Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll, he could still lose, and Democratic challenger Schauer could still win.

That's what should make today's one-and-only gubernatorial face-off at Wayne State University so significant — neither candidate can afford to play defense; both will have to be aggressive, focused on motivating their base and swaying the 14 percent of the electorate that remains undecided.

Snyder, in only his second political campaign, was a slow starter. Perhaps he took his re-election too much for granted, or maybe it was a reflection of his disdain for politicking. But he was too quiet for much of the summer and even into early September.

Schauer used that time to define the governor through very effective and targeted attack ads challenging Snyder's record on education spending and taxe

David Eggert of the Associated Press writes:

Look for Schauer to be the aggressor and criticize a tax rewrite that slashed business taxes and raised them on individuals, including retirees with pension income. Snyder defends the move as making the tax code fairer and simpler. Other hot topics likely will include the extent to which Snyder cut education funding in his first year of office and a 2012 right-to-work law that made it voluntary for unionized workers to pay fees. Snyder calls the claim that he cut more than $1 billion in education spending a “lie.” But Schauer is not backing away. Expect Snyder to trumpet job creation and other economic gains under his watch, with Schauer countering that any recovery has been slow and come on the backs of middle-class workers.


Read more:  Detroit News


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